Magic Moments of Indian tours to England Part 12 of 16 — Kapil Dev launches into Eddie Hemmings for 6,6,6,6

In this 16 part series, Arunabha Sengupta captures one special moment from each of the 16 previous Indian tours to England. In the 12th episode, he looks back at Kapil Dev’s four consecutive sixes off Eddie Hemmings at Lord’s in 1990.

It was murderous assault, calculated to perfection. A sequence of sixes, savage, soaring, spectacular and straight. Four times the bat struck the ball, the impact ringing out around the ground. Four times the ball traced magnificent arcs, searing across space, a streak of red against the blue backdrop. Four times the crowd erupted, each applause laden with heavier and heavier layers of disbelief. After every hit, the bowler and captain exchanged looks, the phenomenal pair of moustaches between them at first bristled with indignation and then drooped in helpless acceptance.

Monday dawned with India 277 runs in arrears. The 653 piled up by England, on the mammoth foundation of captain Gooch’s 333, looming ahead far beyond an unfathomable distance. Just four wickets remained intact. Azharuddin and Kapil Dev were at the wicket, the former already on 117 runs of delight and dazzle. Another 78 were needed to avoid follow-on. And Azharuddin was bowled by Eddie Hemmings in the third over of the morning for 121, beaten by the extravagant break obtained from the infamous Lord’s slope.

But, this match was sculpted for the entertainment of cricketing deities. Following the departure of the Indian captain, 61 runs blazed forth, just eight of them off the bat of Kiran More, and not even a single from the two tail-enders who followed. Having watched the ethereal finesse of Azharuddin the previous afternoon, the spectators were now treated to brutal massacre carried out by Kapil Dev.

By the time Angus Fraser was running in for the 14th over of the day, Kapil had pushed his score along at a fair clip from the overnight 14. He now stood on 53, made from 69 balls. And off the third ball of the over, he watched from the non-striker’s end as More was caught in the cordon. Two balls later, Sanjeev Sharma nicked one to Jack Russell behind the stumps.

Leg-spinner Narendra Hirwani walked out to bat — or whatever it was that he did with the willow. His Test batting record at that moment read 28 runs from 10 Tests at an average of 4.66, 17 of them scored in a single inspired innings against New Zealand. Now, with generous help of fortune, this quintessential batting rabbit somehow managed to survive the last ball of Fraser’s over. If Hirwani had been blessed with a bit more ability with the bat, the remarkable feat that followed might not have taken place at all.

Hemmings now got ready to start a new over. At 430 for nine, India needed 24 to save the follow-on. For Kapil, the tactics were convenient enough to calculate. The squat figure at the other end promised nothing in the most absolute terms. And 24 could be divided by six without leaving any irritating residual remainders.

The first two balls were duly blocked, not one ounce of needless energy expended. And the next four flew from strokes that rang out like reports from a rifle.

Each of the four sixes were hit high and straight over the bowler’s head. Three were gigantic, one was just huge, all equally grand. Three cleared the scaffolding. One did not get quite that far and rebounded off the top of the sightscreen. The follow-on was avoided by a single run, but it could not have been saved with more splendour. It required a Kapil Dev to do this. A man built with the all the ingredients of a legend.

At the other end, Hirwani proved himself to be a man with a supreme sense of occasion. He lent the finishing touches in making those great sixes immortal, forever part of the Indian cricketing folklore, an incredible chapter in the celebrated history of the ground. Having watched those four towering hits, he now promptly fell leg-before off the first Fraser delivery of the next over. His unwavering consistency starkly underlined the perils that would have befallen India if any one of those massive strokes had not been struck. Kapil walked back unbeaten on 77 from 75 balls, with eight fours and four sixes. England had to bat again.

Not that it mattered in the end as India lost by a rather convincing margin. But, Kapil Dev’s four sixes added yet another dimension to this sublime Test match, supplementing the marathon of Gooch and the magic of Azharuddin with his signature brand of murder and mayhem.

(Arunabha Sengupta is a cricket historian and Chief Cricket Writer at CricketCountry.He writes about the history and the romance of the game, punctuated often by opinions about modern day cricket, while his post-graduate degree in statistics peeps through in occasional analytical pieces. The author of three novels, he can be followed on Twitter at http://twiter.com/senantix)

First Published on July 7, 2014, 5:32 pmLast updated on July 7, 2014, 5:32 pm